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We all fondly remember our trip last Sep-tember to the home of Carol and Fritz Rottman where we toured the 17 acre prai-rie they established over a 10 years period. At that time the native grasses were putting on a spectacular show for us. Now is our opportunity to be thrilled by a diversity of blooming prairie forbs. Crack open your Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide and practice plant identification, take copious photos, spot some beneficial bugs or song birds… or just relax and take in the sites on this 70 acre property which also includes a rain garden, kettle lake with native wetland plants and surrounding woodlands.
We will also learn of current research being carried out on this property by Calvin Col-lege students and get an overview of an-other environmental organization – the Michigan Nature Association (MNA) by a member of this group, John Bagley.
We have asked Carol Rottman to have cop-ies of her book - All Nature Sings: A Spiritual
Journey of Place, available for purchase again. Many of these books were purchased last year by members for themselves but they make a wonderful gift to give too! The book details the history and creation of this unique piece of property. To learn more about her, the book and so see some beauti-ful photos taken on the property; visit her blog at www.carolrottman.com.
The terrain of this site is generally level with stone paths that take you through the plant-ings around the residence, mowed paths take you through the prairie and an over-hanging deck allow views of water plants. Wear sturdy footwear, bring mosquito re-pellent and carry rain gear in the event of light rain. Heavy rain will cancel the pro-gram.
The address for this event is 11300 Hart St., Greenville, 48838 and the program will start at 7 pm. Be advised that the residence is set back from the main road and the driveway is narrow. Native plants flank each side of the paved drive - so use caution when en-tering and exiting. Please carpool because space is limited. Angle park on the grass alongside the barn.
June 20th Program: A Revisit to Our Prairie Home Companions
Volume 5, Issue 5
June 2011
Bear Creek Festival 2
National News 2
Grass Detectives 2
Natives to Know 3
Volunteers Needed 3
Got Apps? 4
Calendar 4
Inside this issue:
Officers
President—Amy Heilman
VP—Eileen Schmuker
Membership—Ruth Oldenburg
Outreach—Carol Phelps
Treasurer—Nancy Hoovler
Secretary—Betsy Ford
Planning Chairs
Newsletter—Rachel Ford
Hospitality—Rhonda Reider, Gretchen Zuiderveen
Web—Roland Bouchard
Advisory Board
Mark Fitzpatrick —Director Ada Parks and Recreation Dept.
Julie Francke—Director of Horticultural Education—Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Steve Mueller—Environmental Education Con-sultant
Patricia Pennell —
Environmental Consultant,
Photographer, Botanist, Eco-
friendly Landscaper
Rebecca Ling — Landscape
Designer - River Maid Design,
Environmental Law Investiga-
tor
Wild Ones promotes environmentally-sound landscaping practices to preserve biodi-versity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant com-munities and is a not-for-profit environmental education and advocacy organization.
For more information, please contact: Amy – 616-308-8176 or [email protected]
www.rivercitywildones.org
Remember to come prepared at these
meetings for hiking, possible inclement
weather and bring your water or sport
drink. As always, some tempting goodies
will be provided.
Photo courtesy of Carol Rottman
Page 2 River C ity Wi ld Ones June 2011
www.rivercitywildones.org
Park Event Supported by River City Wild Ones
On May 16th the Bear Creek Water Festival' was held in Townsend Park near Canons-burg. This is a Kent County Park and the festival was held to showcase the impor-tance of the life sustaining water that flows through our creeks, rivers, lakes and water-sheds. For the second year, our Wild Ones chapter set up a table to give visitors infor-mation on all the ways native plants help contribute to clean water – such as stabiliz-ing riverbanks and filtering pollutants with their extensive root systems. We also gave out White Pine saplings (generously pro-vided by chapter President, Amy Heilman) to the children that visited our table. The festival was well attended and people were very much interested in the native plant movement and invasive species manage-ment. Wild Ones members provided an-swers and encouragement to those that
stopped by. It was a gorgeous day and an-other way that Wild Ones members can help children and adults learn about and support Michigan’s wonderful native plants.
- Barb Olson
Barb Olson shares advice and enthusiasm at the Bear Creek Water Festival.
Newly elected VP – Eileen Schmuker, gave away dozens of white pines to excited kids.
Latest News from National in Wisconsin
Good news! we have hit the magic number of 3,000 national members - actually 3,029! Please congratulate yourselves for helping us get over the "hump. That number is only as good as long as current members keep their memberships active, however. So, please keep your membership current and don't forget about gift memberships to neighbors, friends and family. Now that we've managed to get over the "hump," let's all work together to continue to grow that number so we as a national organization can
keep spreading the word about the benefits of native plants and natural landscaping.
****************************************
This year's entry date for the Wild Ones Photo Contest is August 3rd so get your cameras out and start taking those photos. Last year we had over fantastic 130 photos - the most to date! Let's beat that total this year. Send your 2011 entries to: [email protected]
Jeffersonia from RCWO member Sue Bouchard’s gar-den this spring.
Grass Detectives Needed!
Michigan Members — UI researcher Lauren Quinn needs help locating escaped individuals or whole popu-lations of Miscanthus sinensis and/or M. sacchariflorus in natural areas in Michigan. Information she needs: Loca-tion (GPS coordinates, if possible. If not, then an inter-section or other landmark), description of environ-mental context, population, names, contact info of owners if possible, estimate of history of population (how long there, where's nearest planting and when it was planted), photo of population, and your contact info. You can email Lauren Quinn at [email protected] .
Miscanthus sacchariflorus, also known as silver banner grass.
Miscanthus sinensis
Page 3 River C ity Wi ld Ones June 2011
Natives to Know: American Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia)
The American Bladdernut is an attractive small understory tree, sometimes considered a tall shrub, which is native to eastern North America from Minnesota and southern On-tario, south to Louisiana and Florida.
Although typically growing 6 to 12 feet high, this deciduous tree can reach 20 feet. It has a loose irregular branch structure and smooth gray bark that becomes fissured with age. The twigs are green to chocolate brown with white stripes and rings at the nodes.
The American Bladdernut can be identified by its leaves which are opposite, palmately compound with three leaflets. Other native shrubs/small trees have alternate leaves, simple leaves, or compound leaves with more leaflets. The Bladdernut’s leaflets are dark green, broadly ovate with a long-pointed tip, 2-4 inches long, finely toothed and pubescent (hairy) on the underside. The foliage remains green late into autumn even-tually turning a pale yellow.
In late spring, the American Bladdernut produces small, bell-shaped white flowers with five petals and protruding stamens. These flowers droop downward abundantly on 1 to 2 inch panicles in beautiful nodding clusters.
By mid-June, the flowers give way to highly distinctive 3- pointed, inflated, bladder-like (thus the name) seed capsules (1-3" long). These papery capsules dry out and turn brown in late summer. Inside, 1-4 pale
brown, shiny seeds eventually become loose and rattle in the wind. The showy seed cap-sules add interest to the autumn landscape and are often used in dried flower arrange-ments.
In the wild, American Bladdernut is found in moist mesic woodlands, floodplain woodlands, riverbanks, and thickets along with Sycamores, Silver Maple, Sugar Maple, or American Basswood. The flowers pro-vide nectar and pollen to insects and bees, including honeybees and bumblebees. Grouse use the foliage for cover, and squir-rels have been known to eat the nuts. Deer tend to leave this plant alone.
The American Bladdernut is not only deco-rative with its white flowers in spring and interesting capsules, but responds well to clipping. Thus, it is an excellent native choice for landscape borders or trained as a small tree. It is also a good understory tree in woodland gardens or next to patio seat-ing. Easy to grow, Bladdernuts tolerate a wide variety of soils, though prefers well-drained moist soils, part to full shade, and higher pH soil. Propagation is by seeds or cuttings. Prune in early spring to shape or maintain as a small tree.
Its scientific name Staphylea is from a Greek phrase meaning "cluster of grapes" referring to the drooping flowers. Trifolia refers to the three leaflets.
- Joyce Tuharsky
More American Bladdernut
More information and pho-
tos on Spring Beauty are
available at:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=STTR
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/sttr.html
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/bladdernut.html
American Bladdernut
photo: wildflower.org)
The Grand River Water Festival is taking place at the Lowell Fairgrounds on Saturday and Sunday, June 25 and 26. This is the 4th year for the Grand River Water Festival and it will include lots of live music as well as informative sessions on rain gardens and barrels while it seeks to raise awareness of water issues in Michigan.
River City Wild Ones will be selling 1 quart-sized native forbs and grasses. Please sign-up to help! Current shifts are:
Sat. 25: 1-3 pm
Sun. 26: 10am-noon, noon-2pm, 2-4 pm
Contact Amy Heilman (616-308-8176 or [email protected]) to sign-up for a shift. This will be a fun event with good music and food each day. We encour-age you to work in pairs for each shift, in-formation on each plant will be provided.
Funds raised will help support school gar-dens and other public educational projects. A big thank you goes out to the following members who assisted in obtaining and pot-ting up the plants: Carol Phelps, Eileen Smuker, Rachel Ford and Amy Heilman.
Volunteers Needed for June 25/26 Plant Sale
www.rivercitywildones.org
Carol and Eileen pot up native
perennials.
Page 4 River C ity Wi ld Ones June 2011
www.rivercitywildones.org
Got Apps?
There are several interesting iPhone/iPad/iPodtouch and Android apps out there for nature lovers. Here is a sampling: Project Noah – FREE iPhone App Project Noah is a tool that aims to help people explore and document wildlife, identify plants and animals as well as, collect data from "citizen scientists" about where certain species are located. • Discover thousands of organisms from around the world • Document nature with your mobile phone • Help scientists with ongoing research
• Earn v i r tua l ―patches‖ for various
2011 River City Wild Ones Calendar
All programs (unless otherwise specified) will begin at 7 pm on the 3rd Mon-
day of each month, February – November. Non-members are always wel-
come! Find more information for each event on our website.
Date Speaker/Topic Location
Jun 20 Carol and Fritz Rottman/Native Prairie 11300 Hart St
Greenville, MI 48838
Jul 18 Nathan Haan/Plaster Creek Watershed Ken-O-Shay School
3155 Kalamazoo SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49507
Aug 15 Cedar Creek Institute 701 W Cloverdale Rd
Hastings, MI 49058
Sep 19 Dr. David Dornbos/Invasive Woody
Shrubs
Bunker Interpretive Center
1750 East Beltline Ave. SE
Calvin College, Grand Rapids
Oct 17 To Be Announced TBD
Nov 14 Fifth Annual Auction Bunker Interpretive Center
1750 East Beltline Ave. SE
Calvin College, Grand Rapids
missions that document plant, animal and insect life.
Audubon Wildflowers A Field Guide to North American Wildflowers - $9.99 For iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and Android ―Audubon Wildflowers, a mobile field guide app, is your essential guide to the wildflowers of North America with thousands of professional color photographs, range maps, and authoritative information and more.‖
Many other Audubon app titles available.
Do you know of other Apps that our m e m b e r s m i g h t l i k e ? E m a i l [email protected] and we’ll include your suggestion in a future newsletter!
